7/30/2019 Maria Maria Page 22

1/1

everybody else will, Gomez said.ogether they believe that the po-

tential o the Hispanic communityis very much there and the infu-ential Hispanic expo is a steppingstone in the right direction

I think when we celebrate our

success it makes us want to dobetter and when we do better wecan give back to our community soI think its a cycle, Gomez said.For next year Alvarez plans toopen a a ood estival at Harbour-ront centre while Gomez still con-tinues her research or her Spanishlectures

By Jabbari Weekes For one night differentfaces for the same underlying

basis surrounded the Hispanic

community from various plac-

es: success. While, a rhyming

scheme was denitely not a

factor, success and prosperity

certainly were central themes at

the 10 most inuential Hispanics

awards.

Two of the several recipients,

Francisco Alvarez, Managing

Director for the Institute of Con-

temporary Culture at the Royal

Ontario Museum and Dr. Rosario

Gomez, professor of language

and linguistics at Guelph Uni-

versity see the awards as a rst

step in representing a new face

in Toronto, Hispanics.As a Hispanic member its

gratifying to know that there are

people in different elds doing

what they love and doing it so

well, I think it has to be celebrat-

ed, Gomez said.

Created by Mauricio Ospina,

international market consultant,

inuential Hispanic Canadians

was formed in 2007. According

to Ospina, the ceremony pulls

from a variety of industry leaders

all over Canada in the Hispanic

community. With nominees rang-

ing from club owners to universi-

ty professors.

Were a young community that

has grown with a new wave of

thinkers and leaders and now wehave a night where the Hispanic

culture can focus on its success,

Ospina said.

According to both Alvarez and

Gomez, they were in fact part of

one of those waves, arriving in

Canada in the 1970s albeit from

different countries. Alvarez was

born in Columbia where Gomez

was born in Ecuador, with both

of their families moving to nd

greater opportunities.For both of them the awards

arent as important as the an-

nual progression of the grow-

ing community. To Gomez, the

community is still slowly nding

its voice.

Te thing is we know the workthat we do but I think its really im-portant to get the people out thereand recognize ourselves and then

An Investment in the infuence o HispanicsFrancisco Alvarez sits by the Royal Ontario Museum as passerbys enter the prestigious acility

EWS

AGINA p.aji.naveintidos (ven.tee.dohs)

Did You Ecuador has 24 pro